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Orphan Train Rider by Andrea Warren.

Orphan Train Rider:
One Boy's True Story

Between 1854 and 1930, nearly 250,000 orphaned or abandoned children were sent west on orphan trains in search of new homes. Lee Nailing was nine when he rode a train from New York to Texas, a bitter, unhappy little boy who had been placed in an orphanage after his mother’s death and who no longer trusted adults to care for him. Lee was lucky, for unlike many riders, he found a good home. As an adult he became a tireless advocate for sharing the story of the orphan trains so that history would not forget this uniquely American experiment to find families for children who desperately needed them.

Pioneer Girl by Andrea Warren.

Pioneer Girl: 
A True Story of Growing up on the Prairie

Grace and her family became homesteaders on the windswept prairie of central Nebraska in 1885. They settled into a small sod house and hauled their water in barrels. Though they endured violent storms, drought, blizzards, sickness and hardship, Grace loved her life on the prairie. As an adult she married her true love and they settled into Nebraska’s Sandhills to raise their own family—and started their life together in a sod house. Busy as she was, Grace became famous for her beautiful handmade quilts, many of them taking inspiration from the land around her.

Surviving Hitler by Andrea Warren.

Surviving Hitler: 
A Boy In The Nazi Death Camps

Caught up in Hitler's Final Solution to annihilate Europe's Jews, 15-year-old Jack Mandelbaum was torn from his beloved family in Poland and thrown into the nightmarish world of the concentration camps. Daily survival was a constant struggle, with back-breaking work competing with disease and starvation to end prisoners’ lives. Jack was determined to outwit his captors and reunite with his family. But even with his strong will, how long could Jack continue to play this life-and-death game? And when liberation finally came, what would come after? Jack’s story is one of courage, resilience, and a fierce determination to to help the world understand that there can never be another Holocaust.

We Road the Orphan Trains, by Andrea Warren.

We Rode the Orphan Trains

Warren’s follow up book to Orphan Train Rider focuses on eight riders whose true stories help flesh out the history of this unique American experiment to find homes for homeless children. They include Betty, who found a fairytale life in a grand hotel; brothers Howard and Fred, who were adopted by different families; and Edith, who longed to know the secrets of her past. Also included is the story of one of the agents who accompanied the children on their journeys and remained devoted to them the rest of her life.

Escape from Saigon by Andrea Warren.

Escape From Saigon: 
How a Vietnam War Orphan Became An American Boy

Over a million South Vietnamese children were orphaned by the Vietnam War. This is the story of one, a little boy named Long who is half-Vietnamese and half-American, who struggled to survive in his war-torn country. At the age of eight he was dramatically airlifted from the dying city of Saigon and flown to safety in the United States to join a loving adoptive family who name him Matt. Years later and now a doctor, Matt journeyed back to Vietnam to reconcile his Vietnamese past with his American present. Warren’s book tells the story of the Vietnam War and the plight of children caught in the middle of it.

Under Siege by Andrea Warren.

Under Siege!
Three Children at the Civil War Battle for Vicksburg

Meet Lucy, Willie, and Frederick, all survivors of the Civil War’s 47-day siege of Vicksburg. In 1863, Union troops determined to silence the cannons guarding the Mississippi River at Vicksburg, which would ensure the North’s victory. The siege began, and to hasten surrender, they shelled Vicksburg night and day. Terrified townspeople, including Lucy and Willie, took shelter in caves, enduring heat, snakes, and near suffocation. On the Union side, twelve-year-old Frederick, who had come to visit his father, General Ulysses S. Grant, found himself in the midst of battle, experiencing firsthand the horrors of war.

Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London by Andrea Warren.

Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London

When Dickens was a boy in Victorian London, his family fell on hard times and he was forced to work in a dirty factory to support himself. He very nearly became a street child, and in these circumstances he got to know the  poor and to realize that they were good people deserving of help. His family circumstances improved, but his compassion for the poor only deepened, and when he became a writer, he used his pen to battle on their behalf, forcing the upper classes to see them as he did. In the process he became one of the greatest reformers of his or any age. 

The Boy Who Became Buffalo Bill by Andrea Warren.

The Boy Who Became Buffalo Bill:
Growing Up Billy Cody in Bleeding Kansas

When Billy Cody was a boy, his anti-slavery family was caught up in the violent conflict between Kansas Territory and Missouri to determine whether Bleeding Kansas, as it was known, would be a free or slave state. When his father was killed by a pro-slaver, Billy had to support his family. But he also rode with the infamous Jayhawkers, then joining the Union Army, where he served as a soldier, scout and spy. Later he became Buffalo Bill, whose Wild West Show made him the greatest entertainer of his era. In spite of fame and riches, he never forgot the boy he had been, who grew up in Bleeding Kansas, where the Civil War truly began.

Enemy Child by Andrea Warren.

Enemy Child:

The Story of Norman Mineta, a Boy Imprisoned in a Japanese American Interment Camp During World War II

​As a boy, Norman Mineta was held with his family in a primitive prison camp, one of a dozen such facilities where 120,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated during World War II because of fear and racial prejudice. Always loyal to America, the Minetas made the best of a terrible situation. But Mineta carried that experience into public service and was dedicated to  working on behalf of vulnerable populations. He served ten terms in Congress and then in two presidential cabinets. His determination helped secure federal legislation requiring the government to formally apologize to Japanese Americans for one of the most egregious civil rights violations in American history.

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